Photoluminescence, electrical and structural properties of ZnO films, grown by ALD at low temperature

We report the first results of the low-temperature photoluminescence study on polycrystal zinc oxide (ZnO) films obtained by atomic layer deposition at 100 degrees C, 130 degrees C and 200 degrees C. These ZnO films, when studied 'as-grown', show a strong excitonic emission even at room temperature. Low-temperature (T = 9 K) photoluminescence reveals lack of defect-related bands and a sharp photoluminescence peak at 3.36 eV with full width at half maximum of 6 meV which is comparable with the value reported for good quality bulk ZnO crystals. The energy position of the excitonic peak scales with temperature according to standard formulas and give the Debye temperature of 963 +/- 26 K. We show that optical properties of low-temperature 'as-grown' ZnO films are correlated with structural and electrical ones and that optical study can be a valuable tool for evaluation of quality of ZnO films for novel electronic applications.